What have I gotten myself in to?

I'm nearly all packed up. Seeing all the gear laid out at once made me a tad panicky. What the hell am I going to do with all this stuff? And why am I going to do it? At freezing temperatures on the side of a ridiculously high mountain? Gaiters, first-aid kits, hand warmers, trekking poles, mittens, mitten liners, extra socks, snack bars,... it's all piling up. Then factor in trying to fit all this stuff into the new airline baggage weight requirements. It seems like an impossible puzzle.

My four (4) jackets: wool, fleece, down, and gortex. And I decided to stuff them all into my carry-on, just in case.

I told my mom last night my mantra is "Thinking bee! Thinking bee!" It started yesterday with trying to pack. It will continue until I get to the top of the mountain.

Brief panic again this morning when our ride to the airport showed up. Huh? We're supposed to leave tomorrow morning. The tickets are right, right? Right? We hope so. We don't have them. The guy from Mike's office who handles travel and was supposed to arrange our ride to the airport has them. I guess if they're wrong, he'll handle that too. Oddly, that's something I'm not even worried about right now. 

Welcome to the 21st Century

After two weeks of watching a guy walk around our house, walk around our property, drive away, come back with some other guys to walk around, drive away again and return with a giant metal rod sticking out the back window of the car that was eventually bolted to our roof, we have the internet in our house. And wouldn't you know it, today is a Burundian holiday, so we have the whole day off to sit at home and revel in this novelty.

We're telling ourselves it's okay to be lazy today. It's a holiday. We're going to be leaving very soon to spend 2 weeks in the wilderness. We can spend a day doing nothing. 

(And it's not entirely a day of nothing. I played tennis this morning with a friend and then Mike spent a couple hours hitting against the ball machine. Then we ate tacos. That must count for something, right?)

Seriously, this internet antenna looks like salvage from a Russian satellite. Or maybe a Marconi tower.

**I forgot to mention that yesterday we made our very first Skype call. It was to my dad. It was so awesome! I can't believe we can talk across the oceans for free. 

Happy, Happy Hippo

If I had a kid, I’d decorate its room with this cheerful hippo motif. (Click the photo to see it larger.) For the time being, I don’t really need a quilt from Centre Artisanal de Musaga, but I want one. They hand paint and stamp fabrics with Burundian motifs and other African designs. They sew quilts, garments, and handbags. They sell lengths of painted fabrics. If they don’t have exactly what you want in stock, they’ll make it for you, from custom-painting the fabric to sewing the item. They are, essentially, awesome. If you like that sort of thing. I’m thinking of commissioning some fabric for curtains in my office. That way I can feed the fabric-shopping beast without adding to my overflowing stash at home while supporting and advertising a local business.

Yay for Yulia!

My love of politics, satire, and fashion comes together in the awesome Princess Sparkle Pony blog. I've been reading for a couple years now. I've followed the rise and fall of the glamour girls of international politics Condoleeza Rice and Ursula Plassnik.

When I recently saw Ukranian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko on TV during the Ukraine-Russia gas thing, I wondered if she was going to become the next Pony All-Star. And yes she is! I know I shouldn't be watching gas crises just for the hairdos, but the fashion certainly helps. I'm learning so much about international affairs by starting with the fashion and picking up on the politics as I go along.

"Help me Obi Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope."

Full House

It's been fun playing host to our cyclists. We've offered up the best accomodations they've had so far and they don't seem in a huge hurry to get back on the road (except that they're a tad behind schedule, but isn't everyone in Africa?). Beds. Peanut butter. A washing machine that's not only free, but our housekeeper will do the laundry too. All this could be yours, too, if you visited us in Buj.

I was mistaken in my previous post when I said two of them were school teachers. Their organization works with schools, but the folks on the road are not professional teachers. The organization puts education grad students in the inner-city Chicago classrooms to help teach the students and the teachers how to use the computer and internet resources with the information the bikers send back through their website. It's a training program for the students, the teachers, and the student teachers. Everyone learns something! The more I learn about the program, the cooler it sounds.

However, I'm tired from all the socializing. Whenever new people are in town, everyone pounces and you have endless drinks and dinners. I've skipped working out two days in a row and I really have to get back on my feet. Nothing fancy for me tonight. I asked our cook to make pesto and I really hope he does. I just want pasta and water and a quiet movie at home so I can get up and run tomorrow morning.

Reach the World -- Bike Africa

Something to break up the monotony this week -- we have houseguests! Mike and I are hosting two of the four cyclists from the Reach the World Bike Africa program as they pass through Bujumbura. Two of the cyclists are elementary school teachers in Chicago and they're sending reports back their classes as they bike from Cape Town, South Africa, to Cairo, Egypt. Due to an accident in Tanzania, they're taking a slight detour through Burundi and Rwanda. (All the riders are fine, but one of the bikes was run over by a truck.) Luckily there's a bike workshop at our house and Mike was able to get the bike moving again.

You can check out their website (geared for elementary-aged children) here: http://www.reachtheworld.org/journey/bikeafrica

Please share it with the kids you know! As word spreads, many classrooms across the U.S. are checking in on the cyclists.

vegetable ivory and biodiesel

A few days ago I went to a shop that sells jewelry made from vegetable ivory beads. I’d never heard of vegetable ivory until my mom sent me an article about button identification and preservation a few weeks ago. Vegetable ivory is the way to go, if you want all the fun of real ivory without harming elephants.

Here in Burundi, vegetable ivory comes from the nut or seed of a locally found palm tree. I got to see the whole production process, from sawing open the nut, to dying with curry powder or other plant-based dyes, to polishing and carving, and finally stringing the beads into beautiful necklaces. The retail shop is on a compound where all the work takes place, too.

At the compound, folks are also experimenting with oil from jatropha plants. Its seeds have a high yield of highly usable oil. It can be adapted for diesel engines, lamp fuel, cooking oil, and even made into soap and candles

As an added bonus, the compound also has some fearsome guard geese, stupid turkeys, a friendly monkey, huge toads, and an owl that was sleeping. I love how everyone’s yard here is basically a petting zoo. (Clicking on the photo will take you to flickr, where there are more photos of the beads and the animals.)